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It’s not just that everyone’s on edge, I observed, as I walked through our little town center It’s like they don’t trust themselves

It would be pretty weird, however, to discover yourself defacing public property when you’ve never so much as spat on the sidewalk The whole point of ere so up in each others’ business is that Rockabill wasn’t San Francisco or Seattle Rockabill wasn’t known for attracting eccentrics, crazy geniuses, and the simply crazy Yes, we had our fair share of oddities, but for the most part ere all pretty "nor like run off with a tourist, or invest in alpacas, or begin selling paintings of their own vagina on Etsy, but that was rare Most of us were nice and bourgeois, so to have people in our co out like this (and with no

Which explains why everyone is walking on eggshells, I thought, watching as Marge Tanner--returning to her bakery after delivering pastries to Read and Weep for our bakery case--gave Gus Little--who bagged groceries at McKinley’s but was really a stone spirit--a nervous nod The idea that soht be nervous around Gus illustrated how badly Rockabill nerves were frayed

I’d grown up thinking Gus was mentally a bit slohen in reality he was sort of like a dryad, only instead of bound to a tree he was bound to a rock soht outside town Like their namesakes, stone spirits were often unflappable and a bit obtuse,to raise eyebrows in his life Unless being someone who never raised eyebrows did, indeed, raise eyebrows

Things are bad, I realized, gri, as if to assess whether I’d freak out on her, before stopping to chat We exchanged so Gus tiood-bye to Mrs Tanner, I walked past McKinley’s, glad Gus was inside so I didn’t have to force a conversation with hi his supernatural world with hi with the stone spirit any easier

I ducked into the bookstore and was immediately a shoved, face first, into Grizzie’s surgically enhanced bosoh the door

"My dahlink," she purred "Where have you been all my life? How could you abandon e

"Fickle bitch," she replied, finally releasingaround with Juan Besonegro?"

"Uuys know each other?"

"Do you ether that Grizzie ht he would be"

I blinked at her

"Yes," she said and sighed, disappointed "The big guy, fro at each other, I figured you’d know each other’s names, at least And maybe each other’s ticklish spots"

"Yeah, sorry, I do know… Juan I’m just out of it today…"

"So, where is his ticklish spot? And can I have a go?" Grizzie asked, raising her hands to scritch her fingernails in the air, a gesture that I found alarht next to your pregnant girlfriend, you slattern," I replied, backing away froreen to ed lapels, hehed, mock seriously "I’ housecoats Actually, I would rock a house coat," Grizzie said, as she struck a dramatic vamp pose with one arm in the air and one foot out to the side, toes pointed

"You totally would," I said, heading toward the back so I could drop offwork I knew Griz would follow

"Seriously, though, how do you know Juan?" she asked, her curiosity obviously very piqued

"How do you know Juan?" I countered, trying to figure out what I needed to know of Anyan’s hu

"Who doesn’t know Juan?" Grizzie asked, rolling her eyes and leaning against the doorfra and jean jacket on the table in the back room "He’s totally faefest"

"Classy, Griz," I said, giggling

"What, it’s true!" she replied, poking a fingernail into the side of her long, black French braid to scratch her scalp "He’s hotter than candy on a stick Huckleberry, cherry, or lime"

"He is definitely hot--" I started to say, before Grizzie interrupted me with some more Juan worship